Can We Think without Words?

October 15, 2018

Are language and thought one and the same? Can we only know reality through the medium of language? Donald Fagen, one of the geniuses behind Steely Dan, in his autobiography Elegant Hipsters, traces entire subcultures spawned by Count Korzybski’s General Semantics. The basic idea of the book is succinctly summarized by Steven Pinker in The Language Instinct: “General … More Can We Think without Words?

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What Is?

October 2, 2018

To ask this question deeply is to step into quicksand from which there may be no return for those who sincerely ask it. You may, for the rest of your life, be consumed with trying to answer it. Nothing will ever seem to be the same again. Just look at the Pied Pipers of the … More What Is?

The Guru Letters

May 9, 2018

It was 1940, and the Democratic Convention was about to pick their presidential candidates. Paul Block, a Pittsburgh newspaper publisher, knew he had dynamite. The “guru” letters. They were strange letters written by Henry A. Wallace, currently FDR’s popular Secretary of Agriculture, and rumored to be his choice for VP in the upcoming presidential election. … More The Guru Letters

Why Socialism Won’t Work

February 24, 2019

The Niskanen Center published an op-ed in the Saturday edition of the New York Times (2/23/2019) entitled, “Abolish Billionaires? No, Abolish Bad Policy”. I agree. The Democratic Socialists, who are gaining traction, are rightfully passionate about inequities and injustices. But here in New York, they chased out Amazon, along with 25,000 jobs and 27 billion … More Why Socialism Won’t Work